Last week I did some reminiscing about David Byrne & Talking Heads, and I never did get around to mentioning just how smart and together he really is. Boing Boing points us to a presentation Byrne did just a couple of days ago where he talks about the future of the music industry...Hint: it's a dire prognosis, and why shouldn't it be? They've gotten everything exactly wrong for the past 10 years...

Boing Boing also calls out the RIAAfor general stupidity and thuggery, which they'll eventually learn doesn't play where free markets meet technology...

Friday, March 16, 2007

Man, I've always loved that song. I saw The Pogues once and watched Shane MacGowanfall down on the stage from drunkenness and exhaustion when he finished singing that song, and I didn't begrudge him even one little bit...

Friday, March 02, 2007

So The Police, unable to turn away from the promise of filthy lucre, are reuniting for a world tour. The tour happens to stop by my neighborhood, and I have no intention of missing it.

I'm not a big Sting fan, but his punk-filled days with The Police were fun and energetic, before he got himself preoccupied with his navel.

I actually saw The Police in concerta couple of times, lo all those years ago, and I have an amusing Sting story: he'd been out on stage for a few songs when someone threw a beer can at him, because that's what punkers did. I'm sure it was empty; we were punks, but not stupid. Anyway, it infuriated him, and he threw it right back into the face of the guy that threw it at him. Hilarious. Sting, the effeminate wanker, trying to act all tough. It was one of those mosh pit scenes, but we all stopped and laughed. He seemed to get over it with one of those stern "if you do that again" kind of lectures, and finished the set.

It's my one and only Sting/Police memory.

I do remember another time watching Talking Headsfrom up close when someone threw a full beer at David Byrne, also hilarious, but for different reasons. First of all, he managed to see it coming and ducked deftly out of the way. I thought that was interesting. Then the beer hit the drum kit behind him, which is when I realized it was full. Nice effect; a scream. Byrne just popped back up, never missed a beat or a word of the song he was singing. Brilliant. But here's the thing: anyone that's ever seen David Byrne and Talking Heads liveknows that he sings with that spooky thousand-yard-stare, like he's not even in the room. How did he ever see that beer can sailing at him out of the black? Impressive...